Description: C'est en 1902, à l'âge de sept ans, que Danina entre à l'école de danse de Madame Markova. A force de travail, de rigueur et de talent, elle devient, dix ans plus tard, danseuse étoile, favorite du tsar et de la tsarine, intime de la famille impériale. Elle ne vit que pour la danse, jusqu'au jour où son univers bascule : elle est terrassée par la grippe espagnole. Plusieurs jours entre la vie et la mort, elle surmonte la maladie mais en ressort terriblement affaiblie, incapable de tenir sur ses jambes et encore plus de danser. Invitée par la tsarine, Danina passe sa convalescence dans la résidence impériale de Tsarskoïe Selo. C'est là qu'elle découvre l'amour auprès de Nicolas Obrajensky, médecin du tsarévitch. Mais la révolution est en marche et Danina va, elle aussi, être emportée par la folie du monde.

Description: I andras ögon är Faith Madson urtypen för den sofistikerade New York-kvinnan. Vacker, elegant och gift med en framgångsrik bankman. De har två vuxna döttrar och bor i de mer fashionabla kvarteren på Manhattan. Men Faith bär på en hemlighet, en hemlighet så stor att ingen någonsin har fått dela den.

Description: Supreme spinner of romantic yarns, Steel (Amazing Grace, etc.), in her lamentable latest fable of female courage, fortune, fame and fashion, features Oscar-winning actress Carole Barber, who, at age 50 and trying to write a novel, travels to Paris, scene of a tragic love affair 15 years before. On her first night in the City of Light, she's badly injured during a terrorist attack, after which she is left with no memory and no choice but to rebuild her life with a new perspective on her career, family and personal relationships. Steel flirts with themes of motherhood, second chances and writing, never settling on any one for long as Carole discovers the importance of pursuing her own desires while being generous to others and of keeping the men she wants in her life close but not too close. The best part is Carole's rehabilitation; as she reacquaints herself with family and friends, Carole the patient shows the patience author Steel lacks to probe beneath the surface. Though the message is murky at best, Steel delivers a sympathetic heroine and a scene or two that makes the heartstrings quiver.

Description: First kisses are often explosive, but not all are quite as disaster-ridden as the one that propels Steel's latest romance. Isabelle Forrester, elegant and refined wife of cold and indifferent Paris-based banker Gordon Forrester, has spent most of her marriage caring for her desperately ill teenage son, Teddy. Isolated in her Paris home, Isabelle's only comfort is her long-distance friendship with millionaire Washington power broker Bill Robinson, also stuck in an empty marriage. Isabelle and Bill, kindred spirits satisfied with their chaste relationship, agree to meet for a few platonic days in London. Following an enchanting evening on the town, they head back to their hotel in Bill's limousine. As the couple share their first, probing kiss, their car is struck by a speeding, double-decker bus. The horrendous crash kills many and leaves both Isabelle and Bill in critical condition. The long and arduous road to recovery is filled with both physical and emotional pain as Bill must make decisions about his crumbling marriage and the future of his career, and Isabelle must confront bitter truths about her husband. From adjoining hospital beds, they pledge their love to one another, but then Isabelle heads back to Paris to tend her ailing son, and Bill returns to the States for a stay at a rehabilitation center where he hopes to regain use of his legs. Will Isabelle eventually leave her husband and reclaim her freedom? Will Bill ever walk again? Will the two soul mates ever be reunited? Despite the wacky unlikeliness of the bus-crash plot device and the his-and-her IVs, Steel pulls through with skillful plotting, steeping a gentle brew that will once again gratify her legions of fans.

Description: Sarah Anderson, a beautiful, successful thirtysomething attorney, is having a midlife crisis. She's become a workaholic, spending 60- to 70-hour weeks at the office, and she is involved in an unhappy relationship with a man she only sees on weekends, who refuses to involve her in any other aspect of his life. She lives in a dumpy apartment, which contains the same furniture she used in college, and she has no outside interests other than the sometime boyfriend and her job. Everything changes, however, when an eccentric, elderly client of Sarah's dies and leaves her a small fortune and a message: to use the money for something wonderful, to live well, and to think about something other than work. Following this advice, Sarah purchases the dilapidated old mansion the client had lived in (after finding out that it was her own grandfather who originally built it), breaks up with the cheating boyfriend, and focuses all of her attention on rehabbing the old house. As she works to restore the place, she finds contentment in her new pastime; a nice, normal boyfriend in the architect who is helping her; and familial contentment as both her mother and grandmother find happiness in the purchase of this house. A typical Steel fairy tale.

Description: Hope Dunne has carved out a name for herself as a top photographer, known the joys of marriage and motherhood and the heartbreak of loss. In her chic SoHo loft, Hope is content with her life, finding serenity and beauty through the lens of her camera. She isn't looking for a man or excitement. But these things find her when she accepts a last-minute assignment to fly to London at Christmas and photograph one of the world's most celebrated writers - an Irish-American author known for novels of thrilling literary darkness. To Hope's surprise, Finn O'Neill exudes warmth and a boyish charm. Enormously successful, he is a perfect counterpoint to Hope's quiet, steady grace - and he's taken instantly by her. He courts her as no one ever has before, whisking her away to his palatial, isolated Irish estate. Hope finds it all, and him, irresistible. But soon cracks begin to appear in his stories: gaps in his history, lies and bouts of jealousy unnerve her. Suddenly Hope is both in love and suspicious, caring and deeply in doubt, and ultimately frightened of the man she loves. Alone, thousands of miles from home, her mind is reeling. Is it possible that this adoring, attentive man - like the characters in his novels - is hiding something even worse? The spell cast by a brilliant sociopath has her trapped in his web, too confused and dazzled to escape, as he continues to tighten his grip on her.

Description: A young woman walks off a bus and into the lives of the Whittakers, a family shattered by the death of their youngest child. She too is escaping painful memories, and is expecting more, as it is the 1950s, and she is pregnant and unwed. But to the Whittakers, particularly 16-year-old Tom, her love is a precious and unexpected gift, as they help each other to reconcile with the past and begin living for the present.

Description: Steel's usual verve is all but absent from her 52nd novel, a hasty Cinderella story that begins when heroine Marie-Ange Hawkins goes from an idyllic French childhood to a loveless upbringing in Iowa after her parents and brother are killed in a terrible accident. Only 11, she's sent off to be raised by her sole relative, cold and callous great-aunt Carole. The only bright spot in her life is her intimate friendship with Billy Parker, a solid American farmboy who loves and respects her from the time they are children; she loves him, too, but thinks of him as a brother. When Marie-Ange turns 18 and wins a scholarship to go to college, her aunt does not help, but Billy buys her a car and she is able to attend. Then a stranger turns up and informs her that she is in fact a very rich woman; her aunt sells the farm, and Marie-Ange decides to return to France. There she meets the current owner of her old home, 40-year-old widower Comte de Beauchamp charming, handsome and so very polite. They fall for one another quickly (though she knows nothing about him, as Billy points out), marry within months of their first meeting and have two children. But cracks start to show in the comte's smooth, convincing exterior: it turns out that her prince charming who never pays his bills, but doesn't mind spending her money excessively may be a murderer. She refuses to believe this, but when she finally must face the truth, can she save herself and her children? Disappointingly slight, the book rushes toward its pat ending and may frustrate even Steel's devoted fans.

Description: On a warm May night in San Francisco, the Ritz-Carlton ballroom shimmers with crystal and silver as a glittering, celebrity-studded crowd gathers for a charity dinner dance. The evening is perfect - until, just minutes before midnight, the room begins to sway. Glass shatters. And as the lights go out, people begin to scream....